The couple also survived a 2007 fire that threatened their Fayetteville home.

A passing police officer smelled smoke and saw bushes on fire outside the house. He couldn't wake the Randalls by ringing their doorbell or knocking, so he called a dispatcher, who called the house and helped the couple escape unharmed.

"'Your house is on fire. There's somebody out front,'" Hoyt Randall recalled the dispatcher telling him. "I jumped up and got out real fast."

After all their ups and downs, the couple, both 87, decided to walk down the aisle together at Gethsemane Baptist Church in Fayetteville, across the street from their home.

Emily Randall said renewing their vows in a church wedding was her husband's idea.

"When I started going down the aisle, I felt really nervous, but I was on top of the world," she said.

All five of the Randalls' children were at the wedding, along with the couple's nine grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. Their great-granddaughters served as flower girls for the ceremony.

"I continue my promise to you that I will be your faithful partner in life," they told each other as they exchanged rings and a kiss.